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"Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour."
— John Boswell
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Letter from the Head of School | |
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From the heart of Amanda Martin...
Hello Wauhatchie families,
December is here and it comes with some big announcements for the Wauhatchie School!
Before I stepped into this role, our previous head of school, Maria Gonzalez was actively looking for land to become a new home base for the Wauhatchie School. Reflection Riding is under a conservation easement that requires them to have a majority of their land be protected and kept in its natural state. Forest immersive learning is our priority and the presence of our classes day in and day out causes impact and erosion beyond what Reflection Riding can continue to sustain in the coming years. Therefore, we have officially outgrown the space that Reflection Riding is able to offer and need to begin making steps towards relocating in order to make less of an impact on the environment. We value our partnership with Reflection Riding tremendously and want to honor their needs as an organization.
As the school year began, we also learned that Diana Meadows, who owns the land at Lookout Lake, is moving on from remaining a site partner with Wauhatchie for the 2024-2025 school year. This is sad news, as Lookout Lake was our very first campus when Wauhatchie School opened in 2015. We understand her need to begin a new journey and grow in the direction that she and her family need to. What a gift that place has been to so many of us!
With all of this in mind, Kara Cadwell, myself, Nancy Greenfield, and the Wauhatchie School Board of Directors took time over the summer to visit a prospective location in Lookout Valley. We have enjoyed building a relationship with the lovely family that owns this beautiful land located ten minutes from Reflection Riding. It is a fully-functioning farm with so many awesome opportunities for our students. With all of these changes, we are excited to announce that we will be relocating our Lookout Lake Pre-K classes and our Reflection Riding Pre-K and Jr. Kindergarten class to this new location in Lookout Valley for the 2024-2025 school year. A contract with a project manager is in the works, so more details will be forthcoming and we will continue to keep everyone in the loop on this move!
While this is all very exciting, it is also a big change. It will undoubtedly come with concerns, questions, and different feelings. Our administrative team and teachers are here to have those conversations and move through this process together. We are so very grateful to have you all with us. Thank you for your support and the community you bring to us and to one another each day.
Happy December everyone!
-Amanda Martin
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The legend of the three sisters tells the story of companion crops - corn, beans, and squash - often grown together in order to thrive. In the same sense, our classes learn from one other and are growing together each day.
Students at Reflection Riding and Audubon Acres spent the harvest season reflecting on what they have to be grateful for, learning about Native American cultures, & preparing a dish containing one of these crops to share with their site during our Three Sisters Feasts. The food was delicious and the community time together was even better!
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Site Highlight
Reflection Riding Pre-K/Jr. Kinder Class
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Reflection Riding is sometimes considered the hub of our beloved school. It's home to our broadest range of ages, from 3-year-old preschool students to our fifth graders and houses our office space as well as most of our administrative team. Our partnership with Reflection Riding gives Wauhatchie students some incredible places to learn and explore, from the open horse pastures, to the wooded school sites, to the marshy lands under the treehouse, to the towering bamboo forests, and on over to Lookout Creek - not to mention the network of connector trails that meander their way up Lookout Mountain.
This month, we're sharing some updates from our Preschool and Junior Kindergarten class nestled in at Site One at Reflection Riding. Wauhatchie's preschool programs are play-based, child-led and fully immersed in the forest. Being surrounded by nature each day promotes endless opportunities for discovery and pulls on children's innate sense of wonder about the natural world to inspire curiosity and a true love of learning.
Students learn to be kind, brave, thoughtful, resilient, and so much more all while immersed in the forest. Junior Kindergarten is a full-day extension of preschool programs, designed for older students and focused a bit more on early math, literacy, and kindergarten readiness skills while maintaining the freedom and exploration of child-led learning. Reflection Riding Pre-K and Jr. K teachers (Lindsay Hurndon and Carrie Mixon) are a wonderful team, leading this sweet class each day as they play, explore, learn, and grow together.
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An Update from the Reflection Riding Pre-K/Jr. K Team:
This past month we’ve been hearing lots of little voices singing “I listen to my body, listen to my body - it will tell me what I need…Feel’n cold and chilly - run around or find the fire!” And our class sure has been running around! We’ve taken our longest hikes of the year along the creek and out to the bamboo forest.
The kids discovered bamboo drumming, “stickies” (small burrs that can be stuck together), and an entire deer skeleton (minus the head!). The colder weather and first real frost has led to conversations about the water cycle as we notice the sun melting the ice and cozy moments with tea around the fire. Our circle and group times have been full of thankfulness and Native American stories and facts, as we celebrated both Native American Heritage Month and Thanksgiving.
Some recent highlights have been sharing our thankful turkey poster and our Three Sisters Soup with the whole school at the Three Sisters Feast and learning about the Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole Peoples who were the first people to live in our region.
Happy Fall from the Reflection Riding Pre-K/Jr. K Class!
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Admissions Season 2024-2025 | |
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Hello Wonderful Wauhatchie Families!
‘Tis the season for re-enrollment. We are grateful for all of our Wauhatchie School families whether you have been a part of our community for years or are just joining us this month! You and your students are the pulse of everything we do.
The 2024-25 school year has many exciting things in store! Our programs have boomed this year and we anticipate huge growth in the year to come. We are eager to have you return in August to join us once again for another amazing year in the forest!
To re-enroll follow the three steps listed below:
- Receive the email from TADS on December 15th, 2023 with instructions and a link to re-enroll for the 2024-25 school year.
- Complete the enrollment form for each student in your family.
- Receive and complete your billing agreement and pay your enrollment fee before March 1st, 2024.
If you don’t intend to have your student return to Wauhatchie School next year please complete step 1, select the “Not Attending” option for enrollment and know that you are always welcome back if you change your mind. Once these steps are completed you will secure your student’s spot at Wauhatchie School for the upcoming school year. We look forward to continuing our Wauhatchie School adventures with each of you! Happy Holidays!
Kaitlyn Agee
Director of Admissions
kagee@wauhatchie.org
423-708-4824
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Our recent Beetlemania performance was a stunning success! In keeping with our STEAM theme of Soil, Reflection Riding students imagined, created, and delivered a performance that left us in awe. This interdisciplinary long-term project culminated in an amazing showcase while incorporating learning in all subject areas. From researching to planning to painting to animating, these students put their all into this project and it definitely showed on the lawn of the Humphrey's House.
Kara Cadwell (Director of Teaching and Learning) spearheaded a collaboration between our amazing teaching staff, Playfully Evolving Monsters, and the incredible Pop-up Project to guide students in bringing their in-depth beetle studies to life. Rebecca Westbrook-Toker (STEAM Integrationist), has been leading and inspiring curiosity across grade levels as our students have learned about beetles, soil, insect life cycles, habitats, and so much more.
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From Brittany Wilkins, Artist-in-Residence
The art component of Beetlemania included both handheld and wearable puppets, as well as cardboard relief sculptures inspired by different beetle species. We examined beetle parts to identify the different shapes that make up beetle bodies, and then drew them on scrap cardboard. After being cut out from the cardboard, students reassembled the beetles on a cardboard base.
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Jr. Kindergarten students, kindergarteners and 1st graders made different variations of beetle puppets inspired by the work of author/illustrator, Eric Carle. Our second graders created rainbow scarab beetle reliefs after reading a book about the interesting ways in which this dung beetle is a helpful part of the prairie ecosystem. For the third grade hand held puppets, students first used aluminum foil to sculpt the head, thorax, and abdomen of their beetles. Then they covered them with paper mâché, added two sets of wings, 6 legs, 2 antennae and finally painted and added all of the delightful details. | |
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Wauhatchie 4th and 5th grade students worked collaboratively in small groups, first identifying the shapes needed for their beetles, then finding large objects around them to use as stencils. One student noticed that a backpack was the perfect object to trace around to get the shape of large-scale beetle elytra (outer wings).
This project involved a lot of steps and a spirit of teamwork amongst the students and teachers alike. We discussed art as a space for education and action and agreed that creating interest around beetles through art making may just inspire people to appreciate and care for these small creatures that are not only beautiful, but also so incredibly important to our soil health and to all of us!
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Wauhatchie's version of a PTA is open for any parents or family members interested in volunteering or being more connected to our school community this year! If you're interested, find the Friends of the Forest group on MiNGA and Request to Join to get plugged in. | |
*Please note that we've added January 20, 2024 as another Family Volunteer Day. This will take place from 10am-2pm at your child's respective site! | |
Our STEAM - science, technology, engineering, arts, and math - program is woven in to the learning of each student here at Wauhatchie School. Rebecca Westbrook-Toker (STEAM Integrationist) and Bob Cook (STEAM Support and Tech Integration) are working tirelessly to bring science, technology, engineering, art, and math to life each day in interactive, engaging ways. These wonderful enrichment teachers travel from site to site and work with each student to varying degrees depending on the grade level and curriculum for that class. Our STEAM theme of SOIL has sparked so much thought, curiosity, discovery, hands-on learning, exploration, and problem-solving already this year and we can't wait to see what else this program and our students can do!
If you have a particular interest in the work of our STEAM programming, please consider supporting by providing any requested supplies on our STEAM wishlist. We're extending a HUGE thank you to those of you who have already sent us some great items!
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